Arminda POV:
After cleaning the library, I was sent to the kitchen to wait for the Alpha to sign my exit papers. I was thirsty, so I grabbed a glass of water from the counter.
Charly waltzed in, followed by a maid named Sarah. Charly spotted a bowl of leftover soup on the counter-lunch for the staff.
"I'm starving," Charly announced. She grabbed a spoon and took a sip directly from the pot.
She swallowed, then immediately dropped the spoon. It clattered loudly on the tiles.
"Ack! Ack!" She grabbed her throat, making choking noises. "Poison! It burns! Wolfsbane!"
"What?" I turned around. "Don't be ridiculous. There is no Wolfsbane in this kitchen."
"Help!" she screamed.
Sarah, the maid, pointed a shaking finger at me.
"I saw her!" Sarah cried, reciting her lines perfectly. "I saw Arminda put a purple powder in the pot! She said she hoped the Beta would choke on it!"
"Liar," I said, shocked.
Coleton appeared. It was like he had a radar for Charly's screams.
"Wolfsbane?" Coleton's face twisted in horror. Wolfsbane is a deadly neurotoxin to our kind. It causes paralysis and eventual heart failure.
"She poisoned me!" Charly writhed on the floor. "I can feel my heart stopping!"
Coleton didn't check her pulse. He didn't smell the soup. He lunged at me.
He grabbed a handful of my hair and dragged me to the counter where the pot of soup was simmering.
"You want to kill her?" he snarled. "Let's see how you like it."
He grabbed a ladle, filled it with the boiling hot broth, and forced it toward my mouth.
"No! It's just chicken and herbs!" I yelled.
"Drink it!"
He squeezed my jaw so hard I thought the bone would snap. He forced my mouth open and poured the hot liquid down my throat.
I gagged, coughing and sputtering as the scalding soup burned my tongue and esophagus.
I swallowed it.
Coleton watched me, waiting for me to convulse. Waiting for the Wolfsbane symptoms.
I fell to my knees, clutching my stomach. It hurt because it was boiling hot, and because I hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours, but it wasn't poison.
"See?" I gasped, wiping broth from my chin. "I'm not dying."
Coleton looked at me, then at Charly, who was still rolling on the floor.
"She must have built up an immunity," Coleton rationalized, defying all medical logic. "Or she didn't put it in the whole pot, just Charly's bowl."
He kicked me in the ribs. Not hard enough to break them again, but hard enough to bruise.
"You are sick," he spat. "Get out of my sight."
He picked Charly up. "I'm taking you to the hospital. Stay with me, baby."
He threw a crumpled piece of paper at me. It was my signed exit form.
"Leave," he growled. "If you're still here when I get back, I'll kill you myself."
I grabbed the paper. I didn't look back. I ran.
I made it to the edge of the territory where a town taxi was waiting. I collapsed into the back seat.
"Airport," I rasped.
As the taxi sped away, I pulled out my phone. It was 8:00 PM. The party was starting.
I typed a message to Coleton.
"I, Arminda Morse, accept your rejection, Alpha Coleton Barron."
I hit send.
Then, I rolled down the window and threw the phone onto the highway.
I boarded the plane. As the wheels left the ground, I closed my eyes.
Goodbye, I told my wolf. We are free.
